Careless industrial development has hurt region

I may stop reading the newspaper. Not for any fault of the Standard-Speaker, but because the news is just too sad and depressing these days. Beside the reports of murders and beatings, I read about people who think the answer is to arm themselves. What does it say about us if as law abiding citizens if we choose violence as the tactic to solve our problems?

Gangsters use violence to get what they want. Why would we follow their example and is this an example we want to set for our children? The way to end the violence certainly cannot be to copy it.

Of course there are efforts from groups like crime watches, youth groups, and the big one, education, that hold promise and may offer an alternative. One of these new efforts took place the other night at the Alice C. Wiltsie Performing Arts Center. I heard many positive and informed comments, and I think it helped draw the community together and to sort out some problems. I didn't attend, but watched on TV. It is only a beginning but we must start somewhere.

There was something that Chief DeAndrea said at that meeting that I must take issue with though. He suggested that crime has always been a problem in our city. I do not believe this is entirely accurate. The crime we are experiencing today is new to our area - something we have never had to deal with. We must have the courage to face the facts. This crime has been imported into our community and it is largely in the Hispanic population. We must not make the mistake to assign blame to all Hispanics though. I know, based on those that I have met,that the vast majority of Hispanics - Mexican, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, name the state - are good hard-working family-oriented people. But unfortunately for some reason these good people have been followed here by some of the most repugnant individuals on the planet.

If you want to place blame, and I think it is necessary when planning for the future so mistakes are not repeated, then place it at the feet of an obsessive compulsive industrial development mentality. Anyone who doubted the damage that a cargo airport would cause should doubt no longer.

Which brings me to another reason that I may simply stop reading the news. I have not met anyone who doubts that careless industrial development has ruined our town, devalued our homes and crushed our hopes and dreams for the future that we have worked so hard for. Yet development goes on and there is no public outrage. Land is being bulldozed as I write this. This is not the abandoned mineland as some clam, the companies the land is being prepared for have no ties or interest in the area. Our own tax dollars are being used to write the invitations. All the while our water and sewage systems fire and police roads and schools are stretched to the limit, which we must then also fund. This is the behavior of a crack addict. I truly believe that we can restore our city to the safe wholesome community that it once was. But like an addict, before the healing process can begin you must first stop poisoning yourself. So let me say this to my Hispanic neighbors: you have among you a number of undesirable individuals. These are the same people you moved here to get away from. They are discrediting your entire community. It is time you acknowledge this and disown them. Report them to law enforcement.

To those who hold the responsibility of developing the area, I want to say I do not doubt your intentions. I understand that money needed to be brought into the area but overloading us with an uneducated, cheap workforce is not the way to go. Restrain the population and improve working conditions and this way all our lives may be enriched. For the rest of us, let's not overreact. Voice your concerns and insist on results.

Tom Gallagher,

West Hazleton

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